A record of the heights of the Presidents of the United States and presidential candidates is useful for evaluating what role, if any, height plays in presidential elections. Some observers have noted that the taller of the two major-party candidates tends to prevail, and argue this is due to the public's preference for taller candidates.[1]

The tallest U.S. President was Abraham Lincoln at 6 feet 4 inches (193 centimeters), while the shortest was James Madison at 5 feet 4 inches (163 centimeters).

Various folk wisdoms about U.S. presidential politics put forward the view that the taller of the two major-party candidates always wins or almost always wins since the advent of the televised presidential debate.

There is more data if the relationship of electoral success to height difference starts from the year 1900, rather than from the beginning of televised debates. In the twenty-eight presidential elections between 1900 and 2011, eighteen of the winning candidates have been taller than their opponents, while eight have been shorter, and two have been of the same height. On average the winner was 1.0 inch (2.5 cm) taller than the loser.

The claims about taller candidates winning almost all modern presidential elections is still pervasive, however. Examples of such views include:

In Ray Bradbury's 1953 dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, when Mildred and her friends talk about the success of one presidential candidate over the other in a recent election, they talk only about the attractiveness of the winning candidate over the loser. One of their points is "You just don't go running a little short man like that against a tall man."

A 1988 article in the Los Angeles Times fashion section about a haberdasher devoted to clothing shorter men included a variation of the tale: "Stern says he just learned that Dukakis is 5 feet, 8 inches. 'Did you know,' he adds, noticeably disappointed, 'that since 1900 the taller of the two candidates always wins?'"[36]

A 1997 book called How to Make Anyone Fall in Love with You discusses the issue in a section about the importance of height: "What about height? One assumes the taller the better, because our culture venerates height. In fact, practically every president elected in the United States since 1900 was the taller of the two candidates."[37]

A chapter titled "Epistemology at the Core of Postmodernism" in the 2002 book Telling the Truth: Evangelizing Postmodernisms makes this observation: "I remember the subversive effect the observation had on me that in every U.S. presidential race, the taller of the two candidates had been elected. It opened up space for a counterdiscourse to the presumed rationality of the electoral process."[38]

A 1975 book called First Impressions: The Psychology of Encountering Others notes: "Elevator Shoes, Anyone? One factor which has a far-reaching influence on how people are perceived, at least in American society, is height. From 1900 to 1968 the man elected U.S. president was always the taller of the two candidates. (Richard Nixon was slightly shorter than George McGovern.)"[39]

A 1978 book titled The Psychology of Person Identification states: "They also say that every President of the USA elected since the turn of the [20th] century has been the taller of the two candidates (Jimmy Carter being an exception)."[40]

A 1999 book, Survival of the Prettiest by Nancy Etcoff, repeated a version of the legend in a section on the power of heights: "...Since 1776 only [two Presidents,] James Madison and Benjamin Harrison[,] have been below-average height. The easiest way to predict the winner in a United States election is to bet on the taller man: in this century you would have had an unbroken string of hits until 1972 when Richard Nixon beat George McGovern."[41]

A comparison of the heights of the winning presidential candidate with the losing candidate from each election since 1789 is provided below to evaluate such views.

Comparative table of heights of United States presidential candidates[edit]

Only slightly shorter than Lincoln was Lyndon B. Johnson (6 ft 31⁄2 in or 192 cm), the tallest President who originally entered office without being elected directly. The shortest President elected to office was James Madison (5 ft 4 in or 163 cm); the shortest President to originally enter the office by means other than election is tied between Millard Fillmore and Harry S. Truman (both were 5 ft 9 in or 175 cm).

The tallest unsuccessful presidential candidate (who is also the tallest of all presidential candidates) is Winfield Scott, who stood at 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) and lost the 1852 election to Franklin Pierce, who stood at 5 ft 10 in (178 cm). The second tallest unsuccessful candidate is John Kerry, at 6 ft 4 in (193 cm). The shortest unsuccessful presidential candidate is Stephen A. Douglas, at 5 ft 4 in (163 cm). The next shortest is Hillary Clinton, who lost the 2016 election and is 5 ft 5 in (165 cm).

The largest height difference between two presidential candidates (out of the candidates whose heights are known) was in the 1860 election, when Abraham Lincoln stood 12 inches (30 cm) taller than opponent Stephen A. Douglas. The second-largest difference was in the 1812 election, with De Witt Clinton standing 11 inches (28 cm) taller than incumbent James Madison. The 2016 election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton has the third largest difference at 10 inches (25 cm), and is notable for being the first time two candidates from major parties are of different genders.

^As some examples, USA TODAY listed height among six criteria for predicting who would win the 2004 election; a Washington Post blogArchived July 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. noted the significance of height in physical appearance and its effect on voters. See the discussion of this phenomenon later in the article for further examples.

^According to Cass's biography, he was "about five foot eight or nine inches". See Woodford, Frank B. (1950). Lewis Cass: The Last Jeffersonian. New Brunswick and New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. p. 32.

^One biography of Crawford describes his stature as being "considerably over six feet". See Butler, Benjamin F. (1824). Sketches of the Life and Character of William H. Crawford. Albany: Packard and Benthuysen. p. 35.

^Cornog, Evan, The Birth of Empire: DeWitt Clinton and the American Experience, 1769-1828, ISBN0-19-514051-6